Casemate Uk: 14 books

The Casemate Short History Series presents readable and entertaining introductions to military history topics. Today tanks are synonymous with the modern army; imposing, essential pieces of high-technology equipment, seemingly impregnable. But how did the tank come into being, and how did it...

The Casemate Short History Series presents readable and entertaining introductions to military history topics. Throughout history, the best marksmen in any military force have been employed as marksmen or sharpshooters, and equipped with the best available weapons. The German states made the...

The Casemate Short History Series presents readable and entertaining introductions to military history topics. Over seven centuries the artillery piece has evolved from a status symbol to one of the most deadly weapons wielded by man. Using gunpowder weapons was initially something of a black...

A gripping first-hand account of the combat operations and life of a member of the secretive and elite South African Special Forces, known as ‘Recces’. South African Special Forces, known as the ‘Recces’, are an elite group of soldiers that few can aspire to join. Shrouded in secrecy...

‘I remember the cracking sound of the AK-47 bullets as they tore through our windscreen . . . A piece of bullet struck my bulletproof vest in the chest area and another piece broke off and lodged in my left forearm.’ Johan Raath and a security team were ambushed in May 2004 while on a mission...

During the Cold War, nuclear submarines performed the greatest public service of all: prevention of a third world war. History shows that they succeeded; the Cold War ended peacefully, but for security reasons, only now can this story be told. Eric Thompson is a career nuclear submarine officer...

The Battle for Alesia was a decisive moment in world history. It determined whether Rome would finally conquer Gaul or whether Celtic chieftain Vercingetorix would throw off the yoke and consequently whether a number of independent Celtic tribal kingdoms could resist the might of Rome. Failure would...

"He is usually dressed rather like a tramp. His sweater is worn, his trousers frayed, while what was once a cap is perched askew on his tanned face. He wears no gold braid or gold buttons: neither does he jump to the salute briskly. Nobody goes out of his way to call him a 'hero', or pin medals...

The combined forces invasion of the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on 23 April 1918 remains one of Britain’s most glorious military undertakings; not quite as epic a failure as the charge of the Light Brigade, or as well publicized as the Dam Busters raid, but with many of the same basic ingredients. A...

The success of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944 depended on thousands of troops carrying out their mission and the seamless coordination of the amphibious landings with paratrooper and glider assaults. The troops not only had to be trained up ready for their own roles, but to work alongside other...

Many think of the United States Marine Corps as a second land army, and while it has been employed in that capacity, it is foremost a naval expeditionary force able to seize, secure, and defend advanced naval bases in support of major campaigns. The Corps dates back to the Revolutionary War,...

Churchill's Secret Prisoners tells the previously suppressed story of fifteen British prisoners captured during the Russian civil war. The Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 seriously compromised the Allied war effort. That threat, rather than an ideological wish to defeat the Bolsheviks, was the driving...

Fortified structures have been in existence for thousands of years. In ancient and medieval times castles were the ultimate symbol of power, dominating their surroundings, and marking the landscape with their imposing size and impregnable designs. After the Norman conquest of England, castles exploded...

In 1944, with the invasion of Europe underway and battles in the Atlantic and Mediterranean all but won, the Royal Navy`s strength could be focussed on the Far East and the Pacific where the Japanese were still a long way from defeat. Since the Battle of Midway, in June 1942, the United States had...